


The Perfect Solution

by callmeonetrack



Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003)
Genre: Alternate Ending, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-13
Updated: 2017-01-13
Packaged: 2018-09-17 05:19:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9307064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/callmeonetrack/pseuds/callmeonetrack
Summary: An alternate ending for Razor where Lee realizes the huge mistake he almost made in sending Kara to her death and acts accordingly.





	

Lee's heart starts pounding the second he hears her voice crackle over the comm announcing the raptor's safe landing. It's the best damn sound he's heard all day and Lee hands off command to Hoshi immediately. The communications officer is the most senior one in the CIC at the moment, and Lee thinks fleetingly of how he'll need a new XO now. But the idea floats away to be dealt with later. Right now he has far more important matters to attend to.

He rushes on to the hanger deck, nearly running, his pace hardly befitting the commander of a warship. Lee doesn't care. He crosses directly to the raptor, the door still yawning upward and the remainder of his team straggling out. Kara's last and Lee doesn't even let her step off the landing board before he grabs her, arms locking tight around her back as he lifts her down. 

"Gods, Kara, I'm sorry. I'm so, so, sorry." He can't stop chanting the words and Kara's still stiff, awkward in his arms.

"It's okay, Lee," she says after a moment her hands settling on his shoulder blades. "You did what you had to do. The mission was compromised and--"

"No! Frak the godsdamned mission, Kara!" He pulls back slightly so he can look at her face. She's staring wide-eyed, like she can't believe what she's hearing. "I never should have ordered you to stay behind. I don't know what the hell I was thinking."

Kara swallows hard. "You were just doing what any good commander would do, Lee. Protecting the mission." Her voice is firm and slightly too loud, her eyes skidding away from his and darting around nervously, and Lee is suddenly very conscious of the fact that they have an audience. 

Well frak that. Let em look. He raises his palms to Kara's face, thumbs stroking her cheekbones and tilts his forehead against hers. "I should've been protecting you."

He kisses her then, ignoring the whispers from his soldiers and deck crew, ignoring the guilty voice in his head reminding him he has a girlfriend on another ship, ignoring everything except the feel of Kara's lips and body pressed to his. 

Finally he pulls back, and relief rushes through him when he sees that Kara's smiling, a softer look in her eyes than he's accustomed to. "You think maybe we could take this somewhere a bit more private, Commander?" she breathes. 

***

Hours later, they lay in bed in his quarters, limbs languid with satisfaction and tangled together. Kara is playing with a small pocket knife, twirling it over and over in her hands. "Not a lot to show for a life, huh?"

"Guess not. You have any idea why she did it?" For the rest of his life, Lee knows he will be immeasurably grateful that Kendra Shaw saw fit to sacrifice herself in Kara's place. But he's not sure he understands why she did it.

"Maybe she thought she had a lot to answer for?" Kara says quietly. "Maybe she had it coming."

Guilt lodges in his chest again at what he ordered, what he almost did. "We've all got it coming," he says grimly.

A beat passes, then Kara says, "I'm going to request a reassignment to Galactica, Lee."

"What?! No! Why?" He feels like he just found her, and now he's losing her already.

Kara turns to face him, her eyes rolling slightly, "Maybe because my commanding officer keeps trying to get me killed?" Lee flinches, even though he's pretty sure he deserves that. Kara's hand raises to his cheek. "I don't want you to have to make that call ever again, Lee. And if I stay here, you know it's going to happen, sooner or later." 

Lee has a childish urge to plug his ears, as if he wouldn't have to believe her words if he couldn't hear them. Deep down though, he knows Kara's right. If she stays on as his CAG, as the head of his operational missions, this could happen again, probably will in fact. His stomach churns sickly and his brain churns trying to come up with a way to make it not true. Then, in a flash, he has it. 

"I think you're right Kara. I don't want you to be my CAG anymore." Her face falls a little, like she didn't think he'd actually agree to her transfer request, but Kara just nods. Lee slips his arms around her and smiles. "I want you to be my XO, instead."

She stares at him in shock, then chokes out a laugh. "Your XO? Are you frakking kidding me?" 

Lee shakes his head. "C'mon Kara, it's kinda perfect don't you think? We already know we make one hell of a team, and this way," he pauses and pulls her closer, rolling her under him, and ducking down to kiss her for a long minute, "I get to keep you close to me at all times pretty much." He nudges her thighs apart with his knee and settles between them, pressing his hips to hers and nipping at her earlobe. "Very close," he murmurs.

Kara loops her arms around his shoulders and arches, sliding her body against his in a little shimmy. "I think I'm starting to see the appeal of this crazy idea of yours, Apollo."

Lee grins, a bolt of pure happiness shooting through him for once as he thinks of the future, imagines his days spent commanding the Pegasus with Kara by his side. Antoher ridiculous idea flits through his head, and Lee's grin turns into a smirk. He presses his lips to Kara's ear and whispers, "And just think of how much Tigh's gonna love seeing you in those pips at the weekly intra-fleet briefings."

Kara's cackle of laughter reverberates from her chest right through his, warming him like a blast of the sunshine he hasn't seen for more than a year. And he realizes he was wrong before. This is the best damn sound he's heard all day.


End file.
